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Ick

When I was at the doctor earlier this week, I mentioned that I had started throwing up. They gave me a new prenatal vitamin to take, that has extra B-6 and ginger. I started it that night, and the next day I felt pretty good. Don’t get me wrong, I still felt the nausea “verge” as Emily puts it. But I was OK; I even managed to eat some actual food.

That brings us to today. First of all, it should be noted that various doors throughout the office building are locked, so you use this little electronic key to get in. The most direct route between my desk and the bathroom requires a key fob to get through.

You know where this is going, right? I totally left my key fob at home today. Aaaaand cue vomiting. I’ve now run to the bathroom two times, pants undone (because they’re too tight and make me feel even more sick) and once I very nearly didn’t make it. Next time I’m taking my trash can with me as I go. Do you think that would be too obvious?

My first reaction was the curse myself, for forgetting the damn key fob. My next reaction was to curse this damn open office plan (I work in a godforsaken cubicle). If I had an office, I could puke behind closed doors. Although then, I’d have to deal with the barfy trash can, so that’s not really a good solution.

Whatever. Too sick to deal with it. I’m now nibbling Cheerios, one cheerio at a time, because I know having nothing in my stomach makes my nausea worse.

11 thoughts on “Ick”

I feel your pain. Maybe try sea bands? I find mixed nuts are pretty good on an empty stomach. A little bit of Pepsi works somewhat for me, too. Hope this passes for you soon! I am about 2 months right now, and the worst weeks for me were probably about 5 and 6…things are getting better now, but I’m always hungry!

Citrus really helped me — I drank a lot of water with lemons. Rice chex were safe for me too. And French fries — becuase who doesn’t love French fries?

Did they talk to you about Unisom? It’s actually a sleep aid, but was apparently originally designed to help with nausea. I was always sickest at night so it was a huge relief because it also helped me sleep. I just took a half tablet at bedtime, and I was usually feeling ok until mid-day the following day.

My go to is raspberry candy — in particular the pastilles that come in the round, white tins and get sold at fancier shops. I think they are French. I also swear by raspberry syrup in ice water. And lemon water. And coca-cola. Truly bland food made me feel sicker last time around. I could have lived off the green salsa from our local taco joint.

Yay, puking at work. I can’t tell you how I did not pay any attention at all to the presentations my students gave while I felt like that. Good grades all around. Lord knows what they actually said, if anything.

What I tell my clients is to focus on stomach friendly foods like starchy carbs and yogurt. Avoid greasy and spicy foods. Lots of water. An empty stomach is your enemy…frequent small snacks are good. Cheerios, saltines, etc. Should be left in places you sit a lot: next to you bed, next to your favorite chair and so on to take some nibbles before you get up and walk around. Some of my clients said ginger helped. Another swore seeds (pumpkin, sesame, sunflower) were the answer. Hope that helps dear.

Hang in there! This part of things really sucked for me, but it’s just about over now and the world suddenly looks so much rosier.
I highly recommend asking your provider for a prescription for Zofran. It didn’t do a whole lot on the nausea front for me but did keep me from throwing up. Apparently it somehow stops the stomach spasms that cause the acutal vomiting. For me it was a huge help psychologically to know that, despite feeling so awful, I wasn’t actually going to throw up if I took the meds. Oh, and one other note: it comes as a pill that you swallow, but you can also get it as something that just disolves under the tongue–which seems like a brilliant development, given that swallowing anything can sometimes make you feel extra queasy.
Is there any one at work who you can tell what’s going on? It might be nice to have someone to complain to (and to let you borrow their keys!). It seems incredibly unfair that the time in pregnancy when many of us feel the worst is also when the pregnancy is supposed to be a deep dark secret so you don’t get other people supporting you (and your partner) as much.

I cannot recommend ‘ginger people’ candies enough! They are made in the US so you should have no problems getting them, just google it. Over here they sell (expensively) in health food stores. I had a friend send boxes over to NZ for me. It’s quite a strong spicy chewy ginger candy. I found biting it into thirds and then sucking a third worked brilliantly for me when I was at my most nauseous.

Hey Sara! How are you feeling these days!? We’re around the same time, and Im feeling nothing! I almost wish I was nauseous just so that I knew this was really real! A 3wk wait between u/s appts is taking its toll on me. Im feeling anxious. How are you???